Blackheath Rugby Club (BRC) was founded in 1858 by old boys of Blackheath Propietary School who played a "carrying" game of football made popular by Rugby School. BRC was the first rugby club in the world without restricted membership.
In 1862 the club developed the tactic of passing the ball from player to player as an alternative to the solo break and the "kick and follow_up".
In 1863 BRC was a founder member of the Football Association which was formed at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, on Lincoln Inn Fields, London October 26, 1863 with the intention to frame a code of laws that would embrace the best and most acceptable points of all the various methods of play under the one heading of "football". Mr Francis Maude Campbell (F.W.C.) a member of Blackheath was elected treasurer. At the 5th meeting F.W.C argued that hacking was an essential element of 'football' and that to eliminate hacking would “do away with all the courage and pluck from the game, and I will be bound over to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week’s practice”. At the 6th meeting on December 8 F.W.C. withdrew Blackheath explaining that the rules that the FA intended to adopt would destroy the game and all interest in it. Other rugby clubs follow this lead and did not join the Football Association. In this way the great divide between soccer and rugby took place.
In December 1870 Edwin Ash, Secretary of Richmond Club published a letter in the papers which said, "Those who play the rugby-type game should meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play". On January 26, 1871 a meeting attended by representatives from 22 clubs was held in London at the Pall Mall Restaurant. As a result of this meeting Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded. Three lawyers who had been pupils at Rugby School drew up the first laws of the game which were approved in June 1871. BRC is one of seven of the original twenty clubs to have survived to this day.
Later history
External links
Home page of the Blackheath Rugby Club (http://www.blackheathrugby.co.uk/)
It was founded in 1858 and is the oldest continuously-existing rugbyclub in England.
Blackheath Football Club (later BlackheathRugbyClub) was founded in 1858 by old boys of Blackheath Proprietary School who played a "carrying" game of football made popular by Rugby School.
BlackheathRugbyClub initially played its matches on the heath (meeting and changing at the Princess of Wales public house) but occasional interruptions from spectators led the club to move, initially to a private field (Richardson's Field) in Blackheath before moving to the Rectory Field in 1883.
Blackheath is a place in London, divided between the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich.
The borough boundary runs across the middle of the heath; Blackheath Village is on the south side of the heath, in Lewisham, while the Blackheath Standard area and Westcombe Park lie on the north-east side, in Greenwich.
However, Blackheath is perhaps most famous as the home of the BlackheathRugbyClub, founded in 1858, which was the first Rugbyclub in the world without restricted membership.
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